Greensboro News Record AP article Employment statistics show hiring is strong, August 29, 2014, Orwellian extrapolation, 11.5 million more not in labor force since Jan 2009, Could step up hiring?

Greensboro News Record AP article Employment statistics show hiring is strong, August 29, 2014, Orwellian extrapolation, 11.5 million more not in labor force since Jan 2009, Could step up hiring?

“Over the last six months, of the net job creation, 97 percent of that is part-time work,”…Keith Hall, former BLS chief

“The Times of the nineteenth of December had published the official forecasts of the output of various classes of consumption goods in the fourth quarter of 1983, which was also the sixth quarter of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. Today’s issue contained a statement of the actual output, from which it appeared that the forecasts were in every instance grossly wrong. Winston’s job was to rectify the original figures by making them agree with the later ones. As for the third message, it referred to a very simple error which could be set right in a couple of minutes. As short a time ago as February, the Ministry of Plenty had issued a promise (a ‘categorical pledge’ were the official words) that there would be no reduction of the chocolate ration during 1984. Actually, as Winston was aware, the chocolate ration was to be reduced from thirty grammes to twenty at the end of the present week. All that was needed was to substitute for the original promise a warning that it would probably be necessary to reduce the ration at some time in April.”…George Orwell, “1984”

“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.”…George Orwell, “1984″

There were 11.5 million more people not in the labor force in July 2014 than there were in January 2009 when Obama took the White House.

Of course there are going to be fewer layoffs.

There are fewer people working, payrolls have already been cut to the bone and there are more part time jobs.

The labor force participation rate has dropped 2.8 percent.

I expect the AP to take the questionable data and spin it in Orwellian fashion.

For example:

“When employers hold onto their workers, it suggests they are more confident in the economy and could step up hiring.”

Could?

Pigs could fly if properly equipped.

I was disappointed to find the following headline over the AP regurgitated article in the Greensboro News Record.

“Employment statistics show hiring is strong”

Here is the same article on the internet from CBS 46 Atlanta.

“The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits slipped 1,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 298,000, a low level that signals employers are cutting few jobs and hiring is likely to remain strong.

The four-week average, a less volatile measure, dropped to 299,750, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s just 6,000 higher than four weeks ago, when the average fell to the lowest level in more than eight years.

“The downward trend … is now clear and strong,” said Ian Shepherdson, an economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. Shepherdson forecasts that employers added 250,000 jobs this month.

Applications are a proxy for layoffs. When employers hold onto their workers, it suggests they are more confident in the economy and could step up hiring.

The applications data is the latest sign that the job market is steadily healing. Employers have added an average of 230,000 jobs a month this year, up from an average of 195,000 in 2013. Average job gains since February have been the best in eight years.

The unemployment rate ticked up to 6.2 percent in July from 6.1 percent in June. But that was because more Americans began looking for work. Most didn’t immediately find jobs, but the rising number of job seekers suggests that people are growing more confident about their prospects.”